Music By Colors: Miami Symphony Orchestra Turns Paintings Into Sheet Music

The Miami Symphony Orchestra is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year with its season opener Oct. 20 at the Adrienne Arsht Center’s Knight Concert Hall.

Maestro Eduardo Marturet has been leading the orchestra for the past eight years and points out that the longevity of the Miami Symphony Orchestra (MISO) puts it in select company with the New World Symphony and Miami City Ballet.

“Well to me it means a great deal, because, you know, 25 years in South Florida is not a little thing,” said Marturet.

Among four works being performed Sunday, MISO will be presenting a new piece composed by Marturet as a homage to Cuban painter Waldo Balart.

But Balart’s work serves as more than just inspiration for Marturet, he used the paintings as a musical map.

“I assigned to each color that he painted a special note. For example, the color red is the musical note A. Violet is F sharp,” said Marturet. “He has a relationship with color that I like.”

You’ll be able to see the connection as Balart’s paintings are projected onto large screens as the musicians perform.

Miami City Ballet’s season opens the evening of Oct. 18 at the Adrienne Arsht Center with Ballo della Regina, a technical feat of precision and speed, with lots of fast turns, hops on point and at times a combination of the two. The ballet, set to music from Verdi's Don Carlo, is so difficult that it’s not widely performed because many companies don’t have the dancers to pull it off.

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series on the Arts Season in South Florida that begins in late September and October and runs through the spring. The series will highlight some of the various venues and must-see events and attractions this year. This post is an overview of where the Miami arts scene has been and where it is going.